5 Things You Must Know About Capital Punishment

The Delhi police have sought capital punishment for all the four convicts

Will the four accused in the Delhi gang-rape case get death penalty? The quantum of punishment will be pronounced today, and we cannot wait any longer to know what it is going to be. The Delhi police have sought capital punishment for all the four convicts who were responsible for the monstrous gang-rape and cold-blooded murder of the 23-year-old paramedic student. While sexual crimes in India are commonplace, a large section of society is against death penalty. As the nation awaits the historic verdict today, we take a look at what capital punishment is all about.

In 1983, the Supreme Court of India came out with the ruling that death penalty must be imposed only in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. The SC also suggested that it would be extended to those found guilty of committing honour killings.

The execution of the same takes several years with a degree of protocol – the case first goes to the High Court and then the Supreme Court. Once both the courts confirm the sentences, the final verdict lies with the President who has the power to grant mercy.

In India, death sentence is performed by two ways – 'hanging by neck till death' and 'being shot to death'. Supposedly, the ropes used in the act are made by prisoners in the jail! What the Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 reads is:

"When any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead."

Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar are the Indian states with the maximum number of prisoners on death row. India has executed only three in the last 17 years.

In 2004, Dhananjay Chatterjee (a security guard) was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Alipore Jail, Kolkata. It was the first execution in India since 1995.

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